Side effects
by moonshoesklaine
Summary: This is set after 'The Crimson Horror' The Doctor begins to have some side effects from that poison stuff when he and Clara are back on the TARDIS. She doesn't know what to do, but the TARDIS does-could a certain Song help him out, or is his time running out?
1. Something's off

"So, Victorian London, huh? Any reason why we need to go there?"

The doctor looked at Clara and squinted his eyes at her. He was desperate to solve the mystery of Clara Oswald, just like Rory the Roman, she had died more than once-and yet, here she was-standing before him.

He brushed some of his hair back, wiping his hand on his trousers and frowning when they came back covered in sweat, "No reason. I just-I wanted to go there, it would be nice wouldn't it? Well, provided I get it right this time."

"But why there?"

He took a deep breath, "It's complicated, okay?"

Clara nodded and seemed to accept it as his final answer, something he was glad about. He really couldn't deal with answering her questions now, especially with the headache that was beginning to form.

Ever since the two re-entered the TARDIS, the Doctor couldn't help but feel like something was off. He found it colder than usual, but beads of sweat were beginning to form on his forehead, and within the first few minutes of being on board his ship, his head had started to pound.

Clara had noticed that the Doctor seemed to be acting unusual, it was almost as if he was in pain. Instead of floating around the TARDIS like he usually did, the Doctor seemed to be taking care in his steps-like every step he took caused him pain. His ancient eyes seemed to tell a story too, but not one of adventure, and drama-they told a story of pain, and misery.

She didn't want to say anything to him though-because she knew that he would just brush it off, and change the subject-but when his small frame began to shiver, and his forehead was covered in a light sheen of sweat, she knew that something had to be done.

"Doctor?"

"Hmm?" He looked up from where he was leaning against the control panel, and raised his eyebrows at her, motioning to continue.

"You trust me, don't you?"

He took a minute, but nodded his head, "Of course."

"So-you'd tell me if something was up, right?"

"Sure"

"Well I know that something's up with you, so why don't you tell me what it is."

"It's nothing."

She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at him, noticing-not for the first time-how pale he was. He had a pale complexion to begin with, but he looked even paler now.

"You're not-You're not sick, are you?"

"What? No of course not. Timelords don't get sick, remember?"

She didn't remember, because he had never told him this, but she didn't think telling him this information would do much good.

But all the symptoms were there-the shivering, the sweating, the pale face, and the way he winced whenever she spoke too loudly-something which Clara also didn't miss.

That was it.

The Doctor was sick.

He sensed her doubt and shot up to reassure her, intending to say "Honestly, I'm fine." Unfortunately, he must have shot up too fast, as his vision began to blur, and he had to hold on to the console for support.

Clara's eyes widened at the sight and immediately rushed to his side, "Doctor, are you okay?"

"What? Yeah, yeah-I'm fine. Of course I'm fine. I'm always fine."

"You nearly collapsed. How can you call that fine?"

The Doctor sighed, there was no reason to hide it now, "Alright, well maybe I'm not fine." Clara smiled, "Thank you. Now, tell me what's wrong."

"I-" But that's as far as he got before his vision blacked out and he allowed unconsciousness to take over his body completely, falling to the floor.


	2. Help me?

_"I-" But that's as far as he got before his vision blacked out and he allowed unconsciousness to take over his body completely, falling to the floor._

Clara's eyes widened as she rushed over to the doctor. She ran her hands over his lifeless form, frowning as she felt the unusual heat radiating from the Timelord's body.

She quickly scanned his body with her eyes, visually checking for any injury he may have incurred from the fall. As far as she could see, he had got away injury free, but that didn't excuse the fact that he had just collapsed in front of her.

Lightly, she tapped his cheek, "Doctor? Doctor can you hear me?" She waited anxiously for a response.

The response never came.

Clara looked around the console room, not even sure what she was looking for-probably something that could help. She sighed in frustration when she couldn't see anything straight away.

Suddenly, having an idea pop into her head, she took a few steps into the middle of the room, tilting her head back to look at the intricate patterns on the ceiling, "Oh come on-I know you might find me a bit iffy, but look at the Doctor. He needs help. I'm not asking for you to like me or anything, I just-I need your help. Please"

There was a pause, then the TARDIS whirred and Clara turned to the console to find two parts of it a glowing orange. She smiled to herself before skipping over to examine it.

The small screen she had seen the Doctor use many times had an orange colour around the edges. The other feature to have an unnatural colour change was a small book left carelessly underneath it.

It was a blue book originally, but the colour was fading in the middle and the pages had obviously read and re-read many times, as they were crumpled and creased.

Clara picked up the small object and weighed it in her hand. For a small book, it was pretty heavy. She dropped it back onto the console and looked at the screen again-there wasn't anything on it, so why would the TARDIS point it out?

Seeing no immediate similarity between the two items, she looked up at the ceiling again and held her arms out wide, "I'm gonna need more than this. What am I supposed to do with these two? How are they gonna help?"

The TARDIS whirred faintly, and slowly, something seemed to be appearing on the screen behind her. She turned to look at it, but frowned when the image became clear to her.

"River Song? Who the hell is she?"


	3. Hello Sweetie

_"River Song? Who the hell is she?"_

The TARDIS couldn't speak, however, so Clara's question was left unanswered. There was a flash of light in front of her and a woman with frizzy hair suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Hello Sweetie. You cal-"

She paused when she took sight of Clara. Then, she pulled out a book-similar to the Doctor's-from her back pocket and started flicking through it, "Who are you? I don't have your photo in here which means that either somebody's been a very bad boy and invited me round for tea outside of my timeline so I have no idea what you look like, or you're not the Doctor."

"Uh-No. I'm Clara."

River closed her book and slid it back into her pocket, "Clara, hey? And who might you be?"

"I-uh-I travel with the Doctor."

River's face softened immediately and she smiled, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For travelling with him. He shouldn't be alone. He should never be alone. I'm River Song." She stuck out her hand for Clara to shake.

Clara took hit almost hesitantly, and shook it, as if she was unsure if she should be shaking it or not. After all, she had just met this woman. She didn't know if she was good or bad.

Then again, the TARDIS did seem to suggest River Song as someone who could help-so she had to be good.

"River Song? Who might you be then?"

"Who, me? Oh-I'm nobody really," She started, "I'm only married to the Doctor. Speaking of which-where is my husband? In the pool? I do love a man who can swim."

Clara suddenly remembered why she had needed help in the first place, "Yeah, slight problem with that."

River turned to her with wide eyes, "What problem?"

"Well, we've just come back from Victorian Yorkshire and he looked _off _somehow."

"But the Doctor always looks off"

"Yeah, but then he just-collapsed."

"He collapsed? Where is he?"

Clara pointed to where the Doctor's prone body was lying. River rushed over to him and knelt down beside him, her hands flying to his forehead.

"He's burning up. We need to get him to the medical bay right now."

"He has a medical bay?"

"Yes-and we need to get him to it. You grab his legs and I'll grab his arms, okay?"

Clara nodded and bent down to pick up the Doctor's feet. It was then that she noticed how light he was. Sure, River was helping her, but he was still light. Together, they managed to manoeuvre him into a room that looked just like a hospital ward on earth.

The walls were white, but they had strange Galifreyan markings on them. In the corner was a large machine-sort of like an MRI. They positioned him on the bed and River laid his head on the pillow, kissing his forehead softly, before turning to face Clara.

"Right. He should be fine in here." She moved a small machine from above her head so it was over the Doctor, "That should help to make sure he doesn't get any worse until we can figure out what's wrong with him-I don't want to give him any medicine yet, just in case he's been poisoned and the two react. Now, Clara-you need to tell me everything that happened in Victorian Yorkshire, and I mean everything. Anything you ate, drank-where you walked-I need to know."

"Well there was one thing."

"Tell me."

Clara told her everything that happened, from the red stuff to Mr Sweet.

"Is there any of this red stuff left?"

"Uhh yeah. The Lizard woman has a whole bottle of it."

"Lizard woman? What lizard woman?"

"Madam Vastra-I think."

"Madam Vastra? Is she still with Jenny?"

"I-I think so."

"Good. I do like them. Now-Clara. Fancy another trip to Yorkshire?"


	4. Revealing past truths

_"Good. I do like them. Now-Clara. Fancy another trip to Yorkshire?"_

"Yorkshire?"

"Yeah. If we're going to have any chance of saving the Doctor, then we need to go back to Victorian Yorkshire."

Clara didn't need to give it a second thought. The Doctor was always the one to save everyone, and he very rarely needed to be saved, but today it was the Doctor's time to be saved.

But if it didn't work out? Well it could very well be the last.

"Lets do it." She ran into her bedroom and fished out her Victorian clothes from her wardrobe while River set the coordinates. As she walked back in to the console room, she caught a glimpse of the Doctor.

He was pale, and Clara would have believed he was dead-if it wasn't for the slow and shaky rising and falling of his chest. Shaking her head of the image of the Doctor lying dead, Clara quickened her pace-arriving in the console room just as River was pulling down on the lever that the Doctor used to make the TARDIS go.

The ride was smooth, but not as smooth as the landing. She looked at River with wide eyes, and one eyebrow raised, "How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You know, land the TARDIS without the-well, you know-"

"Without the noise?"

She nodded, speechless. River simply smiled and strutted over to the TARDIS doors. She turned back at the last second, "_He _leaves the brakes on." Clara was left smiling as River opened the doors and stepped out.

She had to run to catch up with her, and was surprised to find that River was already 5 metres away from the TARDIS, her pace increasing.

By the time Clara had caught up to her, River was already looking around, her eyes frowning. If any time was a time to get answers-it was now.

"How did you and the Doctor meet then?"

"Oh you know, the usual-his previous companions had a child in the Time Vortex. That child was programmed to kill the Doctor, but eventually saw sense and gave up on it."

"And you were that child?"

She nodded, "You have more questions." It wasn't a question. It was a statement. Honestly, Clara was amazed, but it was true.

"You said his previous companions. Does that mean that there were others before me."

"Yeah."

"Well how come he hasn't told me about them before."

Silence.

"River?" River stopped walking and turned to face Clara. Her face wasn't one of strength and confidence, instead-one of sadness and regret.

"Amy and Rory were-my parents. They travelled with the Doctor for a while, but a while ago-a couple of months before you met him-he lost them."

"Lost them? What? How? Playing hide and seek? Or did he just forget where he left them?"

"No Clara," A single tear fell down her cheek, "He lost them." This time she put emphasis on the 'lost' and Clara knew what she meant.

"But why did he take me with him? Why didn't he just-you know-give up"

"Because, Clara. He doesn't like endings."


	5. The Human Boy and the One with the Hair

**AN: So, I know this is a short one, but it's just something because I haven't updated in like, 2 months. I will be updating more often now, sorry for the lack of updates. Enjoy!**

* * *

_"Because, Clara. He doesn't like endings."_

"Now come on. We have to find Jenny and Madame Vastra."

Clara, still stunned about what she had just learned nodded wordlessly and followed River along the road. River, was silent-though Clara suspected that had something to do with the fact that she had just talked about losing her parents.

They kept walking for a while, when suddenly, River stopped outside a house. With determination plastered on her face, she creaked open the door and led Clara through the garden.

Clara knocked three times on the front door and awaited an answer. Not too long after, the door was opened and Commander Strax stood before them, dressed in a black butlers suit.

When he saw them on the other side of the door, he groaned, River just rolled her eyes, "Commander Strax, would you be so kind and go fetch Madame Vastra and Jenny? It's important."

Strax turned to the empty hallway and summoned the two partners, "Who is it Strax?"

"It's the human boy." He paused, looking to River, "And the one with the hair."

Clara had to hide a laugh at Strax's name for River, even if she was a little offended at her own.

Not a moment later, Vastra and Jenny emerged from a room at the back of the house and walked up to the front door to greet River and Clara, "Clara. What a wonderful surprise, and River? To what do we owe this pleasure?"

River looked at her sadly, a solemn look on her face, "We haven't come for a personal visit, I'm afraid, Madame Vastra. This is strictly business. May we come in?"


End file.
